{"id":161518,"date":"2025-06-05T23:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T23:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/161518\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T23:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T23:58:12","slug":"trump-says-it-might-be-better-to-let-ukraine-and-russia-fight-for-a-while","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/161518\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia ‘fight for a while’"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Thursday that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia<\/a> \u201cfight for a while\u201d before pulling them apart and pursuing peace, even as Germany\u2019s new chancellor appealed to him as the \u201ckey person in the world\u201d who could halt the bloodshed by pressuring Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

In an Oval Office meeting with Chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a>, the U.S. president likened the war in Ukraine \u2014 which Russia invaded in February 2022 \u2014 to a fight between two children who hate each other. Trump said that with children, \u201csometimes you\u2019re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart,\u201d adding that he relayed the analogy to Putin in a call this week. <\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018President, maybe you\u2019re going to have to keep fighting and suffering a lot,\u2019 because both sides are suffering before you pull them apart, before they\u2019re able to be pulled apart,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYou see in hockey, you see it in sports. The referees let them go for a couple of seconds, let them go for a little while before you pull them apart.\u201d <\/p>\n

The comments were a remarkable detour from Trump\u2019s often-stated appeals to stop the violence in Ukraine \u2014 and he again denounced the bloodshed Thursday even as he floated the possibility that the two countries should continue the war for a time. Merz carefully sidestepped Trump\u2019s assertions and emphasized that the U.S. and Germany both agree on \u201chow terrible this war is,\u201d while making sure to lay blame squarely on Putin for the violence and make the point that Germany was siding with Ukraine. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are both looking for ways to stop it very soon,\u201d Merz said in the Oval Office. \u201cI told the president before we came in that he is the key person in the world who can really do that now by putting pressure on Russia.\u201d <\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s meeting was the first time the two leaders sat down in person, and Merz left the public portion unscathed as he successfully avoided the kind of made-for-TV confrontation in the Oval Office that befell other world leaders such as Ukraine\u2019s Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> and Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa<\/a>. Trump and Merz began by exchanging pleasantries \u2014 Merz gave Trump a gold-framed birth certificate of the U.S. president\u2019s grandfather Friedrich Trump, who emigrated to America from Kallstadt, Germany, and Trump called the chancellor a \u201cvery good man to deal with.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s difficult, I would say? Can I say that? It\u2019s a positive. You wouldn\u2019t want me to say you\u2019re easy, right?\u201d Trump said, gently ribbing Merz. \u201cHe\u2019s a very great representative of Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merz told German reporters after the White House meeting that he had invited Trump to visit Germany, \u201chis home country,\u201d and added that the two leaders \u201cget along well on the personal level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump and Merz had previously spoken several times by phone since Merz took office on May 6. German officials say the two leaders have started to build a \u201cdecent\u201d relationship. Merz avoided the antagonism that defined Trump\u2019s relationship<\/a> with one of his predecessors, Angela Merkel, in the Republican president\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n

Merz emphasizes Ukraine support<\/p>\n

The 69-year-old Merz \u2014 who came to office with an extensive business background \u2014 is a conservative former rival of Merkel\u2019s who took over her party after she retired from politics.<\/p>\n

Merz has thrown himself into diplomacy on Ukraine, traveling to Kyiv with fellow European leaders days after taking office and receiving Zelenskyy in Berlin last week. He has thanked Trump for his support for an unconditional ceasefire while rejecting the idea of \u201cdictated peace\u201d or the \u201csubjugation\u201d of Ukraine and advocating for more sanctions against Russia.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Trump also kept the threat of sanctions on the table \u2014 but for both Russia and Ukraine. He said he has not looked at bipartisan Senate legislation that would impose harsh economic punishments on Moscow, but said of sanctions efforts that \u201cthey would be guided by me,\u201d rather than Capitol Hill. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I see the moment where it\u2019s not going to stop … we\u2019ll be very, very tough,\u201d Trump said. \u201cAnd it could be on both countries, to be honest. It takes two to tango.\u201d <\/p>\n

For Merz\u2019s part, he used Friday\u2019s anniversary of D-Day \u2014 when Allied forces launched an assault that began the liberation of Europe from German occupation \u2014 to appeal to Trump to help lead the ending of another violent war on the continent. <\/p>\n

Merz noted that June 6, 1944, began the liberation of Germany from a Nazi dictator and that \u201cAmerican is again in a very strong position to so something on this war and ending this war.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was not a pleasant day for you?\u201d Trump interjected to the German leader when he referenced D-Day.<\/p>\n

At home, Merz\u2019s government is intensifying a drive that his immediate predecessor, Olaf Scholz, began to bolster the German military after Russia invaded Ukraine. In Trump\u2019s first term, Berlin was a target of his ire for failing to meet the current NATO target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense, and Trump is now demanding at least 5% from allies. <\/p>\n

Ahead of Thursday\u2019s meeting, a White House official said the administration planned to stress to Germany that it should increase its defense spending and that the upcoming NATO summit in The Netherlands was a good opportunity to commit to Trump\u2019s 5% pledge. But during an exchange with reporters, Trump praised Berlin: \u201cI know that you\u2019re spending more money on defense now and quite a bit more money. That\u2019s a positive thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scholz set up a 100 billion euro ($115 billion) special fund to modernize Germany\u2019s armed forces \u2014 called the Bundeswehr \u2014 which had suffered from years of neglect. Germany has met the 2% target thanks to the fund, but it will be used up in 2027. Merz has endorsed a plan<\/a> for all allies to aim to spend 3.5% of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, plus an extra 1.5% on potentially defense-related things like infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Tariff trouble<\/p>\n

Another top priority for Merz is to get Germany\u2019s economy<\/a>, Europe\u2019s biggest, moving again after it shrank the past two years. He wants to make it a \u201clocomotive of growth,\u201d but Trump\u2019s tariff threats<\/a> are a potential obstacle for a country whose exports have been a key strength. At present, the economy is forecast to stagnate in 2025.<\/p>\n

Germany exported $160 billion worth of goods to the U.S. last year, according to the Census Bureau. That was about $85 billion more than what the U.S. sent to Germany, a trade deficit that Trump wants to erase.<\/p>\n

\u201cGermany is one of the very big investors in America,\u201d Merz told German reporters Thursday morning ahead of his visit with Trump. \u201cOnly a few countries invest more than Germany in the USA. We are in third place in terms of foreign direct investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. president has specifically gone after the German auto sector, which includes major brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen. Americans bought $36 billion worth of cars, trucks and auto parts from Germany last year, while the Germans purchased $10.2 billion worth of vehicles and parts from the U.S. Trump\u2019s 25% tariff on autos and parts is specifically designed to increase the cost of German-made automobiles. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s only so much Merz can achieve on his view that tariffs \u201cbenefit no one and damage everyone\u201d while in Washington, as trade negotiations are a matter for the European Union\u2019s executive commission. Trump hinted at that Thursday, saying the trade situation will mostly depend on the negotiations with the 27-country bloc.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll end up hopefully with a trade deal,\u201d Trump said. \u201cOr we\u2019ll do something. We\u2019ll do the tariffs.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump recently delayed a planned 50% tariff on goods coming from the European Union, which would have otherwise gone into effect this month. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Moulson reported from Berlin. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Thursday that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[13402,15891,32,1945,67988,4179,1824,36201,7337,285,332,7661,657,5213,333,2601,10673,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-161518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-angela-merkel","9":"tag-cyril-ramaphosa","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-friedrich-merz","12":"tag-friedrich-trump","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-germany","15":"tag-germany-government","16":"tag-olaf-scholz","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-russia","19":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","20":"tag-ukraine","21":"tag-united-states-government","22":"tag-vladimir-putin","23":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","24":"tag-washington-news","25":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114633474836723307","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}